Pete Zahut

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Posts by Pete Zahut

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  19

  Bought My First Christmas Tree Last Night

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  last year i didn't bother with christmas as it still felt like a "nothing" day to me (thanks watchtower!).

  this is the 2nd christmas since waking up and leaving the cult and i've finally bought my first christmas tree:).

  i have no idea what to do with it though.

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  Pete Zahut

  This is the 2nd Christmas since waking up and leaving the cult and I've finally bought my first Christmas tree:)I have no idea what to do with it though

  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+decorate+a+christmas+tree+how+to+basic
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  20

  Deceptive comments or lies that you have heard from platform or brothers & sisters?

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, so what are the most deceptive comments that you have heard from your experience in congregations?.

  my top three are;.

  1) service overseer during the ’ how did we do?’ annual talk, twisted the figures to such an extent that it looked like the congregations ministry was in tip-top shape.

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  Pete Zahut

  They read a letter from the Society some years ago and announced that there would be a new and loving provision from Jehovah that was meant to ease the burdens of the brothers handling the literature by going to a donation basis rather than having a set price for it.

  It turns out this was done to avoid having to pay sales tax like the other fundamentalist religions do when they sell their literature and religious trinkets . Avoiding taxes seems like a legit reason to make this change but why not "own it" rather than lying by passing it off as a blessing from Jehovah?
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  13

  Anybody know about this one?

  by careful in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a new book has just been published called the oxford handbook of the bible in america.

  in it is an article by michael gilmour, professor of new testament at (the evangelical) providence university college in manitoba, canada, on jws and the nwt.

  that's chapter 41. but that is not the only time jws are brought up.

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  Pete Zahut

  Be mindful of the carcinogens from the burning ink.
  
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  12

  Is it just me

  by Jayk in

  1. social
  2. current

  or is thanksgiving a massive animal sacrifice ritual?.

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  Pete Zahut

  Is a trip to the zoo or to the circus the same as condoning and glorifying the practice of placing animals in captivity for human entertainment ? Yes, I suppose it is, depending on how you look at it.

  At least with Thanksgiving, everyone was going to have dinner that day anyway and instead of beef, chicken or fish being served as the main dish, they served turkey.
  
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  27

  hi, I am new, God bless all.

  by Daniel Ronjom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everybody.i am new to this forum.i have grown up as a christian in a christian family, but i recognized that jehovahs are more positive about peace on earth.

  i believe in peace on earth too.

  i believe in god and jesus and angels.

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  Pete Zahut

  Welcome Daniel,

  I'm glad you had a good experience with the Jehovah's Witnesses you encountered.

  I'm curious as to how you knew they were Jehovah's Witnesses. Most people who do something kind for someone else, don't typically tell you what their religious background is unless they have an ulterior motive.
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  37

  My Cognitive Dissonance is Eating Me Alive (Intro Post)

  by pometerre21 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now.

  i'm starting to "awaken" and it is all that has been occupying my mind.

  i've always, always had doubts, some of which i expressed to family members who always had the same replies:.

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  Pete Zahut

  "You don't always have the answers."

  "You can't get answers right away."

  "Where is your faith?" (Certainly not in seven men, that's for sure.)

  Faith is a word that people often use to make themselves feel good about having given up searching for the real answers.
  
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  65

  What is the benifits to living forever?

  by Jayk in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  can anyone give me a valid reason for it?

  growing old is a drag.

  the witnesses idea of ever lasting life, that you will come back to your most youthful state is such a bs answer..

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  Pete Zahut

  The last time I went out to dinner with a group of JW couples was just before we stopped going to meetings about 8 years ago. We were all munching on appetizers of cheese and crackers. One rather ditzy heavy set middle aged sister was picking up pieces of cheese, sniffing them and holding them up to her eye like someone examining a diamond and then popping them in her mouth. This went on for a time and then she proclaimed, using a little girls voice "I just love cheese....in the new system, I'm going to learn everything there is to know about cheese".

  Before I could stop myself, I said jokingly "So a month or two later, what will you be doing for all the rest of eternity?"

  Everyone chuckled but the expression on her face told me that she hadn't really given much thought to how she could possibly fill her days, for all of eternity. A round table discussion started on the topic of eternal life. I said I was concerned that when I'm a 950 years old and my wife is 948 years old and my kids are 925 years old, we might not have much left to say to one another. Like the flowers in spring, maybe they're only special because they are here for such a short time. We probably stop noticing them if they bloomed all year long. The same might be true of life, it's special because it short.

  The general JW consensus at the table was that it doesn't matter what we'll be doing in the New System so long as we make it there. Jehovah will make sure that we're happy. That kind of answer puts a nice bow and ribbon on a topic that topic that doesn't bode well if you think about in a literal way for too long.
  
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  78

  Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

  by rulehayl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

  my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

  she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

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  Pete Zahut

  To other commenters - no my Study Conductor has not tried to separate me from any non-JW family members - and I don't really have any JW friends either.

  Ask your Bible Study Conductor:

  • Why do we need a study manual to study the bible? Weren't Gods rules meant to be clear enough for humans to understand?
  • Did Jesus, his apostles and the early Christian Congregation study with people from a set of study aids?
    
  • Can I study with you straight out of the Bible without studying in a book or books that were written by men?
  • Why aren't the Study Aids from the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's being used anymore?
  • If the JW's had "The Truth" and were God's chosen religion since the late 1800's why have their beliefs changed so much and will they change again after I get baptized?
    
  • What about the people who died upholding those beliefs, if they were incorrect, did they die in vain or in a state of disapproval by God?
  • What are the two questions they ask you just before you are baptize and do I have to answer them?
  • Does the Bible show that Jesus and the early Christians asked those questions before they Baptized people?
  • Can I get baptized without having to join the Ministry School or without having to go from door to door each month?
  • What happens if I join the Ministry School and go from door to door but decide to stop doing those things after I'm baptized?
  • If someone I know gets married or has a funeral in a church, can I attend ?
  • Can I vote in a local or national election on issues that are important to me?
    
  • Once I'm baptized, will I be allowed to research anything I hear in the meetings, from outside sources or participate in religious discussion groups outside the organization?
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  For many of these and other questions, you'll be told that "it's up to your own conscience" but if you don't do things their way, you'll be heavily advised to comply and if you don't you'll be marginalized by the rest of the congregation and viewed as spiritually immature, spiritually weak or as a "bad associate". The individual Jehovah's Witness is typically a sincere person but is so heavily steeped in the religion that they don't realize the degree to which they have been mislead and they are able to rationalize the fact that they misleading you and that they are doing so for your own good.
  
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  25

  Charles Manson Is Dead

  by Bangalore in

  1. social
  2. current

  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/obituaries/charles-manson-dead.html.

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  Pete Zahut

  My Dad died young by supposedly upholding God's laws by not taking a blood transfusion and Charles Manson lived on the taxpayers dime for 36 of his 83 years then died of natural causes.

  This is how I know there is no God.
  
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  29

  1975... the year that keeps on giving.

  by silentbuddha in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so i recently moved back to my really really really small hometown in the south.

  it was the place that my parents moved to from a major city up north in the early 1970's.

  when we lived here times were very tough financially and i was always told that the reason we did not attend meetings was due to the fact that we had no car / no gas for the car / could not afford repairs for the years we were there.

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  Pete Zahut

  Thanks for relating your interesting Story.

  It reminds me of a family from our area ( a large City up north) who also went to a tiny town in the south because they wanted the husband to quit his well paying job so the family could start a janitorial service and serve out the rest of this system as "Need is Greaters". I wonder how many other families like yours out there are who's story wasn't something that would end up in the JW yearbook.
  

  This family (lovely people) struggled financially the whole time they were serving where the need was great and they lingered on in the small town, long after 1975 came and went because they were kind of stuck. They eventually ended up being able to move back to our area where the "need was greater" for middle aged Janitors. After that, they never could afford a decent vehicle and the one they were using had a faulty fuel gauge (among other things) and they never knew how much fuel they had.

  One day the wife ran out of fuel along a major highway. The husband came to her rescue with a full can of gas. As he stood along the side of the side of the road filling the tank, he was fatally struck by an oncoming car.

  It was interesting to hear the JW's spin things and almost made the whole incident seem like it was a fine witness for Jehovah.